North Las Vegas avenue named after pioneering developer of the area

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Naming Las Vegas The history behind the naming of various streets, parks, schools, public facilities and other landmarks in the Las Vegas Valley will continue to be explored in a series of feature stories appearing in View editions published on the first Tuesday of every month. If you're curious about how or why something got its name, post a comment on our Facebook page, facebook.com/viewnewspapers, or email sblust@viewnews.com. Thanks for reading View.

By Maggie LillisVIEW STAFF WRITER

In the shadow of Interstate 15 lies a street named for a man who has carried a candle for North Las Vegas since the late 1950s.

Boyd Bulloch, namesake of Bulloch Street, was a businessman, Mormon leader and North Las Vegas City Councilman when his new hometown of North Las Vegas was but a flicker of what it is today.

The 77-year-old still lives in North Las Vegas with his high school sweetheart and wife, Patricia, and hasn't retired. His most notable properties were at and around Cheyenne Avenue and Civic Center Drive, he said. He also owns the Fort Cheyenne Casino in North Las Vegas and continues to develop in the surrounding area.

Bulloch happily occupies his free time with gatherings and celebrations with his 11 children and 65 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The family's latest addition was born Dec. 21, in between a week marked by a grandson's return from a two-year mission, another grandson's wedding and Christmas.

"I'm still pretty busy," he said.

Born and raised in Boulder City, Bulloch was popular during his high school days because he owned a car, said Patricia Bulloch. The old Ford is still parked in the garage of their home.

The pair dated on and off but knew they'd one day be wed, she said. They married in 1955.

Bulloch studied accounting and banking finances at Brigham Young University with aspirations to be an accountant. He returned to Southern Nevada and got a job in land development and formed a career building commercial properties, apartment complexes and subdivisions, he said.

"I just kept right on doing that for the rest of my life," he said.

He and Patricia "couldn't make a living" in Boulder City, so they ventured to North Las Vegas.

"It's the only place I could afford," he said. "I could buy the same house in North Las Vegas for $15,000 that I could in Las Vegas for $35,000."

Bulloch made his mark in retail business and development while foraying into politics, said Michael Green, professor of history at the College of Southern Nevada.

Two years into living in North Las Vegas, Bulloch ran for and won a seat on the City Council. He served one four-year term.

Bulloch served on the council during a time when the city manager was active in annexing parcels of land further into city limits and expanding government services, Green said. Bulloch voted in measures to make the acquisitions possible, he said.

"It was a controversial time," Green said.

Bulloch discussed votes in which the city bought the land on which the former City Hall now stands.

"It was a really creative time," he said. "We were a good group, and we had a good city manager. We'd meet two or three times a week."

"I was very impressed. They did a super job, and they're taking the same heat we took when we built our City Hall," he said of the building's cost and vacant space.

Bulloch said the pinnacle issue he fielded on the council had to do with water rights. At the time, there was a tussle between the city and the Las Vegas Valley Water District, which owned the rights to water from Lake Mead.

"They wanted to take it over, and I was a 24-year-old councilman that said they couldn't have it," he said. "We won."

He helped develop five to seven wells, he said, and stabilized the water situation.

"I went after the water and went full blast and made it happen," he said. "It was my pet project."

Bulloch's insight was also sought for consideration outside the municipal realm. He was on the Clark County Board of Health. In 1961, he was appointed to the Las Vegas Valley Ground Water Board. Later in the decade, he was appointed to the board of directors for the Las Vegas Valley Water District, said Mark Hall-Patton, administrator for the Clark County Museum System. He also served on the College of Southern Nevada advisory board.

Bulloch held prominence in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, too, Green said.

"He was quite an active individual," Hall-Patton said.

Bulloch relocated his family short-term to Provo, Utah and Jackson, Miss., during church assignments. He was called to be a mission president coordinating missions of 160 young people in Mississippi.

"You don't ask; you just go," he said. "It was wonderful."

Back in North Las Vegas, Bulloch was public relations director for the church for 16 years.

"He's always been a good leader," Patricia Bulloch said. "He's always been a hard worker, and he's always had goals he wanted to accomplish."

Bulloch always wanted a big family, his wife said, and he passed along his leadership sense to many of their sons and daughters. Five of the 11 children were student body president at Rancho High School, she said.

Bulloch kept his children and the family name in mind when he was developing subdivisions. He named Randy and Bruce ways in Henderson for two of his sons and Mary Dee Avenue in North Las Vegas for a daughter. A road named for daughter Alicia was planned but never completed, he said.

A naming snafu moved Bulloch to devote a road to his surname. There were two parallel Bruce Avenues, he said, so he changed one to Bulloch Street.

All but one child lives locally, Patricia Bulloch said. One daughter lives next door to her parents.

Bulloch said he's still deeply in love with his wife.

"Our kids and grandkids think we hold hands too much," he said.

Although he's unclear if he'll ever retire, Bulloch said he'll spend the remainder of his days in his beloved North Las Vegas.

"It's helped me raise a beautiful family," he said. "It's been very good to me."

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